Japan Lashes Out Over Dollar, Euro

By

Takashi Nakamichi and

Eleanor Warnock

Updated Dec. 29, 2012 3:17 p.m. ET

TOKYO—Japan's new finance minister upped the ante in the country's war of words against the strong yen, lashing out at the U.S. and Europe for letting their currencies weaken dramatically and calling on the U.S. to strengthen the dollar.

The tirade from Taro Aso, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's point person on currency strategy, underscores the increasingly pugnacious stance of the fledgling Abe government against what it sees as a...